Sanitary closet-seat.



E. 0'. EDWARDS.

SANITARY GLOSET SEAT.

APPLICATION FILED 13110.23., 1912. 1,076,107I Patented oct. 21, 1913.

35 45 JJg WITNESSES E. 0. EDWARDS.

SANITARY GLOSET SEAT.

APPLICATION FILED 1120.23, 1912.

Patented Oct. 21, 1913.

INVEJvToR. KVM .Byllis ATM NEX WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER o. nnwnnns, or s'r. `BAUL, MrNNnso'rA, Ass'r'e'Non or ONE-HALF 'ro ANDREW NOREN, 0F sr. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

SANITARY CLOSET-SEAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led December 23, 1912. Serial No. 738,224.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER O. EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States, residin at St. Paul, in kthe county of Ramsey and tate of Minnesota, have invented a new and `useful Sanitary Closet-Seat, of which the following is a specification,

My invention relates to improvements in closet seats, and the object is to provide a sanitary closet seat of such-constructionV that each person using it may sit on a clean surface and not have to come in contact with a seat surface which may have been rendered unclean b disease or otherwise from previous use y some other person.

In carrying out this idea I provide a supply of exchangeable paper sheets, each provided with an aperture corresponding to the aperture in the seat, and so arranged that only one sheet at a time is accessible for sitting on and is readily exchanged and replaced by a clean sheet; preferably the eX- change is effected by a mechanism which is operated automatically by the raising of the' solid. cover of-the seat preparatory to occupying the seat. In 'the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top view of a closet embodying my invention; in said view the cover or upper 3 on a reduced scale.

portion of .the mechanism chamber is removed and a portion is broken away as on the line b-b Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line a-a Fig. 1. Fi 3 is an enlarged and more completed si e elevation of Fig. 1 with the outer side wall of the mechanism chamber removed and the toothed sector 15 shown at the outer side of the' gear wheel 43, while in Fig. 1 it is at the inner side, thus showing that it may be placed in either position. Fig. 4 is a partly sectional enlarged end view of the roller and pinion and ratchet mechanism o-n one end of it. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 0 0 Fig. 4 including also fragments of. the frame work of the seat and the skeleton cover of same in which the roller is journaled. G isa partly sectional side elevation only su ciently completed to show a modilication of the paper moving mechanism. Fig. 7 is a bottom edge view of the sector 15 in Fig.

journaled ashaft 3; Pivotally mounted on4 said shaft are the hinge members 4 of the seat 5. Said seat is supported on the bowl by legs 6 having rubber' tips 7 so as to create sutiicient space between `the'bowl and the seat for the chamber or inclosure 8 and the rollers9 and 10'mounted therein and extending across the bowl below the rear end of th seat.

Fixed at 11 on the shaft 3 are two hinge members 12, to which the solid cover 13 of the seat is secured at 14, so 'that when the cover is raised or lowered the shaft will make fully one-fourth of a revolution and will thereby swing a toothed sector 15, which' is fixed on the shaft and operates a papermoving mechanism which will presently be further described.

Although theseat and all parts involved in it as a seat are usually more or less oval, they, may for convenience of description be Vretained-oet. 21, 1913.

herein referred to as ring-shaped; it will then be seen `that the seat is composed of a ring-shapedA body 5 having at its base an in ward tiange, upon which is mounted a series of springs 16, which supporta lflat ring-shaped .plate 17, upon which a pile of ring-shaped paper sheets 18 is supported and fed upward by the springs as fast as the pile is reduced by removal of onesheet lat a time from its top. Said upward movement of the paper pile is limited by a keeper consisting of a flat ring 19 having a downward rim 20 passing partly downward about the body ofthe seat, and is there locked by catches like 21 in Fig. 3 engaging in dents 22 in the seat; or any other suitable catches may' be employed. Said keeper is hinged to the seat' at 23, and is provided with journal bearings 24, in which rotate the endsof the roller 25, said roller extending across the keeper and through a transverse slot 2G near the rear end of same contacts with the upper side of the uppermost sheet of paper of the pile 1 8. In Fig. 5 it will be seen that the roller is enlarged nearthe `ends by rubber coverings 25'* which are ,the only portions of the roller 4to engage and move the sheet; this is to avoid the middle of the roller moving the next sheet `below while the ends of the roller move away the topmost sheet.

As best shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 7, vt-he roller 25 has at one end fixed a ratchet wheel .27 engaged by a pawl 28, which is pivoted to house and protect the ratchet mechanism; 3l is a spring arranged to hold the pawl engaged with the ratchet wheel. The disk 29 is retained on the shaft by a pin 33; and fixed in concentric position to the disk is a small gear wheel 34 and a hub 35, the latter having at one side a flat face 36 (see Figs. 3 and 4) adapted to be engaged by the smooth cam-edge 37 (shown in Figs. 3 andr the roller 10', are covered with rubber so as to takea firm hold of the paper 18a and by coaction at both sides thereotI pull the paper into `the bowl. The paper does, however, not reach said pair of rollers until the roller 25 has acted on the top sheet of the pile and moved rearwardly and downwardly between the guides 45, 46, (shown in Fig.

In Figs. 1 and 2 is shown that the cover 13 rests on its short rubber cushions 47 and is provided with a flat broad tooth, 48, having a lateral cavity 49 adapted to engage a spring catch 50, arranged in a pocket 51 in thefront end of the seat; said catching means holding the seat and the cover together against accidental separation during the raisin and lowering of the Seat for purpose o .using the bowl as a urinal; but if only the cover is to be raised it is taken holdy of and raised while the seat will by its own weight be kept down, the spring catch yielding for said weight. 52 is a peg fixed 1n the front end of the seat and engaging all the paper sheets 18, the sheets having either a hole (not shown) for the peg, or, as in the present illustration, a notch in which the peg engages.

In Fig. 2 54 is a guard to prevent the paper 18l crowding too much forward in the bowl while passing into it. In Figs. 3 and 5 55 is a slot in one side of the mechanism chamber 39 for the shaft of the roller 25 to move up and down in when the keeper 19 is raised for purpose of placing the paper 18 into the seat.

In the operation of the device, the paper 18 having been placed in the seat, as just described, a person wishing to use the bowl without the seat takes hold of the seat and raises it to a slightly rearwardly inclined position against a suitable support (not shown), and when through he likewise folds down the seat, the paper keeper, and

the cover 13 without separating any of them. But if he wishes to make use of the seat,'he takes hold of the cover 13 only, and by raising it to the usual standing position he turns the sha tt 3 and thereby causes the sector portion 42a to rotate the paper-starting roller and after said roller has moved the upper sheet of the pile 18 into engagement be* tween the rollers 9, 10, which rollers rotate much faster than the roller 25, the latter roller is rotated by its contactwith the moving paper, so fast that its ratchet wheel 27 must rotate with its teeth playing under the pawl 28; this would be necessary even if the pinion 34 was turning at its normal speed, but especially now when it is standing still, the cam 37 holding it still so that the rack 42a, which has passed the pinion, will tnd it in position for engagement when it returns to it. The operator has thus by raising the cover automatically removed the top sheet of the paper supply, and he can sit on the clean sheet found next below it. When he closes the cover again the rollers 9, 10 reverse their rotation, and as the sector portion 42@l reaches the pinion 34, it rotates it backward to normal position, the pawl 28 playing on the teeth of the ratchet wheel, so as not to turn the roller 25; everything is now ready for the next operation, in which raising of the cover removes the next sheet of paper, and so on, as just described, for each person making use of the seat, until the supply of paper is exhausted, when the keeper or paper-retaining ring 19 is raised and a new supply of paper placed in the seat. As each sheet of paper is pulled away by the rollers and passed down into the bowl it is forced away from the peg 52 either by tearing it away or by pullincr it tightly between the top of the peg anda the paper keeper adjacent thereto.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 the starting roller 25 is the same as in the other views, it having the same ratchet arrangement, the disk 29, and the inion 34 engaged by the sector 15; but when the pa er is started by the roller 25y it is soon caug it between that roller and the adjacent roller 25X and is thus moved along as 18", guided only by a single guide 45. This is one of the many niodiiied ways in which the paper may be moved into the bowl. Another modification, which needs no illustration, as it is obvious to any mechanic, is that if so desired a slight change in the paper moving mechanism will enable the cover to move the paper while it is being folded down, instead of while it is being raised.

llVhat I claim is:

1. In a closet of the class described, the combination oit a bowl, a seat hinged to rest u on the bowl and adapted to contain a pile of sheets of paper having lan opening in the middle andrarranged to form the top ot the seat, a cover hinged to told upon the seat, and means automatically operated by the motion of the cover on its hinges where by the uppermost sheet o the paper pile is removed into the bowl.

2. In a closet of the class described, the combination of a bowl, a seat hinged to rest upon the bowl and adapted to contain a pile of sheets of paper, a supply of paper contained in said cover and arranged with the uppermost sheet as the surface of the seatA to sit on, automatic means for raising the sup` ply of paper to said osition as fast as the supply is diminished) by removing. sheets from the top thereof; a cover hinged t0 fold upon the seat, and a mechanism actuated by the motion of the coverwhereby each motion of the cover removes the uppermost lhee; of the supply and passs it into the 3. In a closet of the kind described, the

combination of a bowl, a seat hinged to fold upon the bowl and adapted to hold a pile of l paper sheets in position for sitting on same, a cover hinged to fold upon the seat, and means operated by the motion of the cover at its hinges whereby one sheet at a time is removed from the to of the pile of sheets.

4. In a closet of t e kind described, the combination of a bowl, a seat hinged to fold upon the bowl and adapted to hold a pile oi sheets of paper for a person to sit on, a

cover hinged to Yfold u on the seat and the 5i In a closet seat of the kindv described,

the combination of a bowl, a seat hinged t0 fold and rest upon the bowl, aI ile of sheets of paper open in the middle he d by theseat to form its top, a cover hinged to rest upon the seat, a toothed sector operated by the motion of the cover, and rollers rotated by the sector and arranged to act onvthe paper I to remove each top sheet thereof into the bowl.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

ELMER O. EDWARDS.

Witnesses PETER BLAMQUIST, Cms. DALHGvIs'r. 

